The kick-off meeting of the project NICCoLLa, took place at Instituto Pedro Nunes, on 21-22 October. The meeting was attended by the partners Instituto Pedro Nunes Institute (Laboratory for Automation and Systems), Lahden Ammattikorkeakoulu Oy (Finland); Universitat Politecnica De Valencia (Spain) and the leader Stichting Avans (Netherlands).

The Network for Innovative Care Competence Learning through Labs (NICCoLLa) focuses on profound issues, priorities and challenges in care and wellbeing like demographic ageing and shortages of care workers. Technological solutions are a key answer to meet these challenges. Many applications are available and the market is developing rapidly. Care professionals are needed that can work with and co-create care technologies which deliver effective and user-friendly services. In a future where (care) technology is becoming more important, ’future-proof’ care professionals with transdisciplinary technological competencies are needed.

To improve the education of (future) professionals, the focus of this project will foremost be on the development of curricular content (competencies, methodology and content) for the education of care and wellbeing professionals (focusing on use and implementation of care technologies) as well as for technology and ICT professionals (focusing on design and development of care technologies). The aim is to increase and amplify the skills needed for the successful implementation of technology and ICT in the care and wellbeing sector. Furthermore, for future purposes of continuous transdisciplinary development and innovation in this area, supported by co-creative learning, a blueprint for the development of a ‘Care Technology Lab’ will be realized.